Cricut Hanging Blade Caddy

Looking for a way to organize your small crafting space? Learn how to make a hanging organizer out of recycled boxes for your Cricut Maker Blades and Tips.

published April 4, 2020
updated January 20, 2021

The Cricut Maker has many different tips, blades, and tools. What is the best way to keep the blades and housings organized in a small workspace?

Previously, I’d created the Hanging Blade Caddy. With the release of the new Foil Transfer Kit, I had another housing and three new, narrow tips to easily lose.

The new version of the Hanging Blade Caddy has space for the Foil Tool and Tips, plus space to hang your Cricut scraper, tweezers, and weeding tools.

I don’t have a craft room – in fact, my small craft area is an IKEA wardrobe inside of our master bedroom. There’s no space for a cute tool bench on a spacious table in my craft room, so I decided to design an organizer that would hang on the door and keep all of my blades and tips in easy reach.

The Hanging Blade Caddy can be cut out of corrugated cardboard, so there are no supplies to purchase. (You need to have the Cricut Maker and Knife Blade to cut it.) It’s a sturdy, recycled material that everyone should have on hand… especially now that we are all staying and home and ordering online more!

You can also make this project using Cricut Chipboard, poster board, or the thin cardboard from cereal boxes or cardstock books.

If you have the Explore Air, you can make this too! Just use posterboard, cereal boxes, or another thin cardboard, and edit the SVG file as needed for the tools and accessories that you have.

The space on the inside of the door was perfect to hang the caddy, so the swappable tips and housings are very close to my Cricut Maker.

No more misplacing the scoring tip while the fine point blade is cutting!

It’s just 1.5 inches wide, so it easily fits inside the cabinet with the doors closed.

After I created the first one, I realized I could use cardstock to jazz it up a little bit….but why stop there? I cut another top shelf out of glitter cardstock and just set it on the shelf.

Now, I can change the shelf color and material depending on my mood. (Yep, that’s probably going too far. But having options is good!)

Ready to create your own hanging blade caddy?

Note: You CAN create this project from the free file, but it does NOT have the drawings of the blades and tips.

If you’d like to make the project exactly as shown, you need to purchase the file (it’s only fair to pay the artist for her excellent work creating the complicated designs!)

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Decide which file you will use:

To create the free version, download Design #25 – Simple Hanging Blade Caddy SVG from the Free Files Folder.

Choose the material you will use to make the Cricut Hanging Blade Caddy.

You have three options:

• Cricut 2mm chipboard (preferred material)
  
• very thin cardboard; glue 3-4 layers together (from the back of a scrapbook paper pad, a cereal box, or poster board)
  
• corrugated cardboard (choose a thin one; it can’t be double-layered)

Remember to do a test cut with the material you are going to use. Review the tutorial here if you want tips on cutting corrugated cardboard with your Cricut Maker and Knife Blade.

If you use the Cricut 2mm Chipboard, the default setting works perfectly. However, be prepared for a long cut time!

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Please note, some of the links in this post are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases, at no additional cost to you. I only link to products I would recommend to my best friends without hesitation!

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Materials needed to create the Cricut Hanging Blade and Tip Organizer:

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How to cut and assemble the Cricut Maker Hanging Blade and Tool Caddy

1) Download the ZIP file. Unzip it and save the SVG file to your computer.

Upload the image(s) to Cricut’s Design Space and insert it into a new project.

2) Cut the shelves, sides, hooks and base.

If using thin cardboard or poster board, cut two or three pieces for each piece shown and glue them together.

Cut the base from corrugated cardboard using the knife blade, or from several pieces of poster board or 80 lb. 12×24 inch Cricut cardstock.

3) Cut the decorative cardstock pieces.

These pieces include the covers for the sides and shelves, labels, and large back piece.

Check that all of the labels have the linetype “Draw” and a color is selected. (I’ve noticed recently that even if it says “draw”, I see an error message. I got rid of the error by simply restarting Design Space.) Also be sure that the text is Attached to the cut piece below it.

Cut cardstock to cover the inside and outside of the shelf sides. (Note that the outside doesn’t have a slot; it will be flat against the shelf.)

Cut the shelf covers from cardstock. The foil tip cover has a score line in it, so it will fold down and cover the extra layers there.

Cut the labels out of cardstock. There are two because two glued together are stronger than one.

Remember to test your marker with the material. (Once my new marker tore up the corrugated cardboard! I needed to use less pressure.) Here’s a review on writing with Cricut if you need it.

Test the writing on your labels. Test the pen or marker you want to use on the paper with one or two words before you cut out the pieces.

If you are using the drawings: Use your favorite marker or pen to draw the base cover on a piece of poster board or Cricut 12×24 cardstock. Color in some of the tools by hand if you like.

4) For the hooks, if you are using the Cricut chipboard, glue two pieces together. Use a tacky glue.

If you are using poster board, glue four or five pieces together per hook.

I don’t recommend using corrugated cardboard for the hooks. They are too fine and will easily get crushed.

Note: the smaller hook is for the space for the Cricut Scraper. It’s the only tool with a smaller hole on the handle and doesn’t fit on the regular hooks.

Next, we’ll set the hooks in place on the baseboard.

Poke the hook through the slot, and pull it up.

Put a dab of hot glue under the hook, and on the top of the slot.

Push the hook down into the glue, and tilt it so the top of the back of the hook touches the base. Make sure the hook sits straight in the base.

Remember to put the small hook in the middle top slot.

After all of the hooks are glued in place, turn the base so the back side faces up and add more glue all around each hook for extra strength.

5) Glue the cardstock cover over the base. The cardstock cover helps hide any hot glue globs around the hooks.

Before putting any glue down, fit the base cover over the base. Gently wiggle the hooks to slide them through the paper, trying not to tear the paper. After it’s in place, lift it around the edges to glue underneath.

6) Then, glue the shelves together as shown below.

If you are using poster board or thin cardboard, use foam tabs between the layers on the tip shelf to give it more height if necessary. The tips need to sit down in the shelf enough so they don’t fall off if they are bumped.

Glue the cardstock covers to the inside and outside of the shelf sides.

Note: The tab is on the bottom. Be sure to have the tab on the bottom as you assemble the shelf so it fits together correctly.

Glue the shelf covers in place.

Next, run a line of hot glue into the bottom shelf slot.

Fit the shelf into place and hold it square while the hot glue cools and sets.

Glue the top shelf on, and then glue the right side on.

7) Glue the shelf to the base.

It seems to work better if you just put a few dabs of glue along the shelves and sides. If you try to run glue along all of the edges, the beginning will be cold by the time you get to the end.

Using the tabs as a guide, press the shelf on the base. (Remember, the tabs are on the bottom of the shelf!)

8) Glue the labels on the front.

9) Use acetate or a laminating pouch (laminated to itself) for the blade holders.

Cut and score the clear plastic for the blade holders. The light gray pieces (as shown below) will be the three blade holders.

After cutting and scoring it, fold the clear plastic into a square. The score lines will bend into corners.

You can put a little glue on the bottom of the plastic to anchor the blade holders in the shelf.

It’s finished! Put all of your housings, tips, and tools in place.

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Frequently Asked Questions about Blades

Question: Why are there three spots for extra blades?

Answer: I buy packs of non-Cricut brand blades on Amazon.

Question: Are they as good as the Cricut brand?

Answer: They cut just as well. They can NOT be “sharpened” by jabbing them repeatedly into a ball of aluminium foil. So, if I’m not getting good cuts, I just thrown the blade away and use a new one.

Question: Can I sharpen the Cricut Maker Knife Blade?

Answer: Yes! You can use a ball of aluminium foil. Jab the knife blade into the ball around 50 times; tilt the blade so that it goes it at different angles. I didn’t think this would work, so I didn’t bother to take “before” and “after” photos… but it actually worked quite well.

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Ready to download the project file?
Head over to the 📂Free Files Folder and enter the ✨ magic word. ✨
(If you don’t have the magic word, just fill in the form below first.)

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Don’t want to forget about this project? Save it for later by pinning on Pinterest!